Tag Archives: Vladimir Korolev

At today’s launch of Russia’s first proyekt 885M or Yasen-M SSN Kazan, Navy CINC Admiral Vladimir Korolev said the third Yasen-M, Krasnoyarsk, will be launched in 2019. But he didn’t mention the second, Novosibirsk.

According to RIA Novosti, Korolev also indicated that the sixth Yasen-M (seventh Yasen overall) will be laid down this summer, and will be named Ulyanovsk.

Korolev also said the first modernized proyekt 955A or Borey A SSBN Knyaz Vladimir will be launched this summer. It will be the fourth Borey overall, and will carry the improved Bulava-M SLBM.

BSF Commander Vladimir Korolev told IA Rosbalt today he thinks resubordinating the BSF to the Southern MD will allow for resolving a large number of missions:

“The South-Western Axis which existed in Soviet times allowed us to coordinate the efforts of various services and troop branches. This experience is extremely opportune today.”

Korolev acknowledged that military reform may progress painfully:

“Fundamental changes in any structure aren’t coped with easily, naturally, they can’t proceed painlessly in an organism as complex as the fleet. The strategic command isn’t swallowing the fleet, the BSF will become an integral part of it with its specific sphere of missions. Adjusting the synchronization of the work of structures, processes, mutual adaptation, delineation of authorities — all this is not simple at all, but it’s very important because such large-scale changes are happening for the first time in the history of our Armed Forces. But we have to go for this in order for the fleet to develop, to get stronger in accordance with modern requirements.”

He called ‘synergistic cooperation’ the main benefit of establishing the common command uniting the fleet and army:

“The fleet, aviation, and ground units won’t compete among themselves, but organically supplement and support each other. The events of August 2008 showed how important it is to have a powerful grouping of varied forces which have to act according to a single plan, dispose of an entire arsenal of forces and means, including modern communications systems, on the Southern, as well as on any other axis.”

Rosbalt said the BSF and Caspian Flotilla will transform into the Operational Command of Naval Forces (OKMS or ОКМС) within the Southern MD.

Now it seems Korolev’s putting a happy face on this; it won’t be easy. Establishing real unified commands is just as hard as it is necessary. Like it or not, the BSF is getting swallowed and subordinated. It will operate according to plans made largely by green uniforms in Rostov-na-Donu.

If true, what Rosbalt says about the naval ‘Operational Command’ is very significant. Remember the much-ballyhooed shift to a three-tier command structure? The tiers are military district, operational command, and brigade. The name sounds like the fleet’s being reduced from equal of the MD to equivalent of an army, another operational-level command. Quite a come down.

Turning 55 next month, Kletskov retired on age grounds, but, as only Kommersant bothered to note, Korolev turned 55 in February, so President Medvedev has either officially extended his service a couple years, or plans to give him another star, allowing him to serve to 60, under the law.

“Vice-Admiral Korolev is a competent leader, possessing good personal knowledge and work habits, both in the staff and in command duties.”

About Korolev’s background . . . after finishing officer commissioning school in 1976, he was assigned to a Northern Fleet nuclear submarine, serving as a division head in the navigation department.

According to Kommersant, in the mid-1980s, he served in the Gadzhiyevo-based 24th Division of Submarines (24th DiPL). He eventually served as executive officer and commander of Victor II-class (proyekt 671RT) SSNs K-488 and K-387. He completed mid-career Higher Specialized Officer’s Classes in 1987.

In 1993, he became Deputy Commander of the 24th DiPL, and completed his advanced education at the Kuznetsov Naval Academy in 1995. He then moved to the Northern Fleet’s Operations Directorate as chief of an unidentified department, then chief of fleet ASW.

By August 2000, he was Commander of the 24th DiPL, and in 2002 became Commander of the Sayda Guba-based 12th Squadron (24th and 18th DiPLs).

On 19 November 2007, Korolev became Deputy Commander of the Northern Fleet, and was appointed Chief of Staff and First Deputy Commander in August 2009.

Media reports haven’t mentioned whether he’s married or has children.

Korolev faces a large number of unresolved military and social issues in his fleet. It has an extremely high percentage of old ships that aren’t combat capable. Some problems with Ukraine persist despite the recent improvement in relations and the Kharkov agreement extending Russia’s Crimean presence to 2042, as well as the promise of 15 new ships and submarines which followed it.

“The fleet is in a state of disappearance, complete collapse. It’s obvious the commander needs to stave off this collapse somehow. But I don’t understand very well how this can be done. Because these promises of numerous ships don’t correspond very much to the record of recent decades, and it’s extremely hard to believe in them.”

“The basic mission of the fleet commander is to try to keep the fleet from dying, even though its service life is close to zero. He can’t do anything because he doesn’t build ships. The Black Sea Fleet has gone to the limit of obsolescence. It’s the very oldest of our fleets. It’s the only one of the fleets in which there are still ships built in the 1960s. It’s the only one in which there’s been practically no kind of renewal in the post-Soviet period.”

“It’s hard to understand what missions are being given to the BSF. Let’s say it can’t even be closely compared with the Turkish Navy in forces, it is so much weaker. I repeat, our entire Navy is in a state close to collapse, but the Black Sea Fleet is in first place in this regard.”

An anonymous BSF staff source told Novyy Region Korolev’s first task is to replenish the fleet with new ships, not just secondhand Baltic Fleet units. His second job is placing orders for repair and construction of ships not just at the BSF’s 13th Factory, but at Ukrainian shipyards as well.

The fleet’s social problems are next. It has hundreds of officers whose duties were eliminated, but they can’t be dismissed since they don’t have apartments. The source says these guys are walking around in uniform, but have no jobs. Korolev’s fourth task is a related one–returning Moscow Mayor Luzhkov to full engagement in Sevastopol. Luzhkov is no longer building apartments there as he has in the past owing to a dust-up with the Defense Ministry over the handling of property in Sevastopol.

Lastly, Korolev has some real naval missions to worry about like securing southern energy routes, the 2014 Winter Olympics, antipiracy operations, and keeping a Russian presence in the Mediterranean.

Regarding Admiral Vystoskiy’s promise of new ships and submarines for the BSF, Moscow Defense Brief analyst Mikhail Barabanov told Kommersant the civilian and military leadership may see the fleet’s reinforcement a priority because it may more likely see real combat action than the Northern and Pacific Fleets.

A Kommersant BSF staff source describes Korolev’s main mission not as planning for new ships by 2020, but simply supporting the combat capability of a fleet contracting before our eyes.